The Orion spacecraft from the Artemis I mission has returned to Kennedy Space Center

On November 16, 2022, the Artemis I mission (unmanned) to lunar orbit. It was a historic moment because it marks the resumption of deep space exploration with humans after the end of the Apollo program. The first mission, having to validate ground systems and hardware, was unmanned for safety reasons, but the NASA SLS rocket (Space Launch System) and the Orion spacecraft they performed well.

The mission allowed to test various systems and operations that will be fundamental for the next mission, Artemis II, which should be launched in 2024. The following year, if all goes as planned, there should be the Artemis III mission where we will finally see return to walking of human beings on the soil of the Moon. However, this will only be the beginning because the Artemis program has the ultimate goal of bringing humans to Mars and establishing permanent activities on the Moon. Something never experienced before. In these hours the Orion capsule she returned to Kennedy Space Center.

Artemis I’s Orion spacecraft has returned to Florida

After launching on November 16, orbiting the Moon and landing on December 11, 2022 in the Pacific Ocean (off the coast of California), the spacecraft of the Artemis I mission she returned to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from where it started on top of the Space Launch System.

As explained in the official blog of NASA, the mission capsule Artemis I arrived on December 30 (local time) at the Kennedy Space Center. Transportation from the naval base located in San Diego where the USS Portland docked after recovery to Florida was by heavy vehicle which carried Orion up to the Multi Payload Processing Facility (MPPF).

Technicians and engineers will now start removing the payloads that were installed in it (for example the dummies or the Snoopy-shaped zero-g indicator). Furthermore, the heat shield and other sections of the capsule will be removed and will be analyzed to understand if there may be critical issues to be corrected before the Artemis II mission.

Jim Free (associate administrator of the space agency) said “Great to see NASA Orion returning to the Kennedy Space Center after its cross-country journey from San Diego. We will continue with the post-flight analysis, remove any science experiments still in the capsule, and begin removing the instrumentation we need for Artemis II “. We remind you that in the first part of 2023 there will be the announcement of the official crew and the reserve crew who will fly on board the first manned mission of this space program. Another historic moment for human beings.